Advances in Sustainable Mining Waste Management

Mining waste comes from extracting and processing mineral resources and includes materials such as topsoil overburden, waste rock and tailings. Improper management of mining waste can cause significant risks to the environment and humans. Therefore, the mining sector should focus on the life-cycle planning and management of mine waste, safety of tailings pond and mine waste dump, mine waste backfill technical and method, utilization technology of tailings and waste rock as construction materials.

This Topical Collection aims to address advances in sustainable mine waste management, particularly novel frameworks that entail (1) physicochemical properties of mine waste, (2) advanced technologies of mine waste disposal methods, (3) innovative technologies of mine waste backfill, (4) utilizing mine waste as construction materials and (5) impacts of mine waste management towards the mining sustainable.

We are looking for contributions in these fields as well as novel approaches to mining waste management. This Topical Collection will also give room for properties of mine waste and innovative technology of mine waste management as well as for investigations of mine waste application. The contributing authors will together with the editors compile a collection of articles from mining waste lab test and simulation to in-situ solutions for mining waste management.

The Topical Collection scope covers topics of specific interest include, but are not limited to:

● Physico-chemical properties of mine waste;

● Methods of mine waste disposal and treatment;

● Stability analysis of mine waste rock dump or tailings facilities;

● Innovative technologies of mine waste backfill;

● Advanced monitoring technologies of mine waste facilities;

● Comprehensive utilizations of mine waste as construction materials;

● In-situ applications of mine waste disposal engineering.

Keywords: mine waste, tailings management, waste rock utilization, mine backfill, mining waste treatment